Dark and Dangerous Wonderland
by BTW-ibite
Summary: Wonderland has always been more than a little insane, with its own unshared secrets, only warping itself to appeal to its visitors. But when Alice's three daughters stumble upon the Rabbit Hole, will Wonderland find the will to allow them to part? OCness
1. Prologue

**Yaaaay, my second story! The first one isn't complete, mind you. But I suddenly had a good idea for an Alice in Wonderland FF, so a little more added to my plate can't hurt. Even though I have 3 huge projects due before November. No biggie. . Hope you like it!**

"Chessie?" The grown woman whimpered in a hoarse voice, clutching at the deep violet skirts of her gown. Although she was an exotic sight for all to see, age shown through in some places. There were blotches on her ivory skin and silver in her black hair. Her heavy, black makeup was streaming down her cheeks as she watched him with wide, frightened eyes.

She looked like a pretty, ebony mouse caught in the claws of a vicious cat. Probably because that was exactly the situation she was in. Scared out of her mind, the dark beauty fisted the jacket of the much younger man she was addressing. "Chessie? Chessie, talk to me. Tell me it isn't true!" The dark mistress sobbed into the front of his shirt.

Carefully, but with a firm grip, the adolescent boy removed her from himself. He charmed her with a kind smile, although even a fool could see he wasn't feeling at all kind or charming at that moment. The older female was shaking in her heels. "What, by all means, are you saying, my Queen?" he asked earnestly.

But he batted his long, black lashes at her and she felt reassured. "I overheard… Hic… I overheard you talking to the Rabbit and the Caterpillar about-"

"Now, now, Your Highness. Your tears are your own fault, then. Eavesdroppers never like what they hear," Chessie admonished her, shaking his head rather sadly. When he was done tsk-tsk-tsking her, he grinned. However, his expression wasn't caring anymore. It was ruthless and bloodthirsty.

The Queen staggered away from him in shock. "So… So it's true! Chessie, please! Think of all the time we've spent together. Think of all the things that we have accomplished. In just a few more years, we could rule not just the Kingdom of Clubs, but all of Won-!" Once again, he cut her off. However, this time he wasn't so gentle. With an angry hiss, he lurched forward.

His action surprised the old lady and caused her to fall backwards. She admitted a sharp cry of pain when she felt her hip break. Her age was coming on fast now. Her beloved Chessie was distancing her from his power. At the rate she was changing, the Queen would be nothing but a pile of dust in less than a minute.

"I apologize, but I've gotten as far as I can with you by my side. Good-bye, my dear." The teenager cooed in the most mocking voice ever heard. His once-beautiful queen withered away, leaving nothing but a crown of white gold and ebony. He picked it up as if it were a baby bird and blew her dusty remains away.

"It's time. The next head you sit upon will be the true Queen." Chessie whispered to his reflection in the precious metal. With one last grin, he tucked the crown away safely and began jumping through the trees towards the Rabbit Hole. New arrivals were coming soon. It was be very ungentlemanly not to greet them.

Plus, there was also the fact he didn't want anyone else laying his or her dirt paws on his final accomplishment.


	2. Three Little Princesses

**I'm decided to post the prologue and the first two chapters at the same time so as to keep things interesting for any possible readers. Just in case you are wondering. :)**

Alice let out a long, annoyed sigh before setting down her teacup to glare at her three daughters. They were arranged in front of her, from youngest to oldest, considering she was convinced the trouble that had been caused was mostly due to her two youngest daughters. Still, she planned to stare them down until they confessed.

Therefore, she started with Dinah. She was the last child Alice bore in a desperate attempt to produce a male and a mere fourteen years of age. Still not married, like her other siblings. She knew from the start that Dinah wouldn't be getting a husband. Not that her smallest daughter was ugly, because she wasn't.

She was a pretty youth, one could say. Her face was slender but without curves, like that of a child. Pouting lips and large, lively green eyes adorn her face, partly covered by the curtain of bangs that swooped over her forehead. The cornsilk-colored hair was pulled up into two high ponytails whose ends still brushed against the back of her shoulders.

Not many good and trustworthy gentlemen wanted such a girlish bride, but this wasn't the main problem. It was that Dinah inherited Alice's own trait of curiosity and creating mischief. Even now, instead of looking down in shame as her parent squinted harshly at her, Dinah replied with a half smile and the batting on her blond lashes.

Giving up hope on making little Dinah remorseful, Alice moved her burning gaze to Payton. Many suitors had expressed interest in Payton. However, almost all usually retracted their invitations. Payton had a look to her that some saw as lovely and, to others, scary even though she was only 18-years-old.

Long, black hair that curled up at the end with equally as dark eyes. She was lanky but looked more feminine than her younger sister. Her skin was pale to a point of almost being white, except for the mahogany blush on her cheeks, and the gray gowns she constantly insisted on wearing did nothing to compliment her complexion. Then there was that sick sense of humor…

Payton kept on a straight face similar to the one her father wore when playing poker with his social friends. However, her bottomless eyes twinkled with such amusement that, in the end, Alice was stared down. It was then when she decided to look to her oldest daughter.

Marianne. She was no doubt the girl with the best head on her shoulders. The one that, since Alice failed at producing a male heir, would get married as soon as possible and have a son to follow in her father's footsteps when he passed away.

Her eldest child was neither childish nor frightening. In Alice's eyes, she was everything a lady should be. Well educated, but with enough sense to keep her mouth shut. Mature, not one to make rash decisions. Deceivingly ordinary, with a little something extra hidden away to attract the eyes of men.

With luscious chocolate-brow hair, gold-tinted skin, a supple figure, and caramel-brown eyes, Marianne had been quick to hook herself a rich and handsome bachelor at the ripe age of 21. The key word is "had been," Alice thought grumpily as she turned back to her younger daughters again.

"Do you know why you are here, my _darlings_?" Their mother hissed unhappily, crossing her arms over the front of her Victorian dress as she stood up to her full height.

"Did someone put glue on the bird feeder again?" asked Payton, innocently. Birds were her cat's favorite treat and she had been known for making the flying prey easier to catch for her lovely pet.

"Is something wrong with the vases in the storage room?" asked Dinah, tilting her head to the side curiously. Alice knew this was one of her youngest's most cherished places. More than a few times, servants informed her of all sorts of odd chatter that came from the storage room. It was where Dinah went to play make-believe.

"I was told by the messenger that my fiancée sent me a letter. May I see it?" Marianna requested politely, seeing the open letter with her future husband's seal tucked neatly under Alice's saucer. Alice nodded and handed the letter over to the oldest. "Please read it aloud. I would like your younger siblings to here the news as well," she said sharply, giving Payton and Dinah the evil eye again.

Marianne raised one slender and arched brow before reading aloud,

"_My beloved Marianne,_

_I regret to inform you that I can simply not go through with our engagement. You're lovely of face and, on the outside, you appear as calm as a babbling brook. However, these irritating little "love pranks" you keep on pulling are simply too much for one man to handle. Bathrooms full of frogs? Cooking ingredients full of worms? Don't even get me started on the creatures you slipped into my bed. I'm truly sorry that I misread you. You're not fit to be my bride, I'm afraid._

_Deepest apologies,_

_Samuel Grant."_

Silence filled the room for a while. That was, until both Payton and Dinah burst out in laughter. They clutched their sides and even fell to the floor in their fits of giggling. "The frogs, Payton! There were so many frogs. Piled up in the tub, hopping out of the sink, littering the floor… And the toilet was _overflowing_!" Dinah managed to pant.

"Remember all the creeper and crawlers I stuffed in his goose-feather mattress? He'll be picking off ticks and fleas for _years!" _Payton replied between chuckles.

"I can't believe you two! Not only are you refusing to find spouses yourselves, but driving off your elder sister's?" Alice raged, raising her hand to deliver a well-deserved slap on Dinah's rosy cheek. The young girl squealed and shrunk away into the arms of Payton, who defensively held her little sister away from their mother. However, that hand never came down.

Instead, Marianne held Alice's wrist in a bruising grip. "You can't punish them, mother." She said in a calm, smooth voice that was usually used when she enforced something with all of the will in her.

"Grant isn't going to keep this to himself. He'll tell every eligible man about these "love pranks." Your younger siblings just basically ruined your chances of ever marrying to a suitable gentleman and creating an heir for the family. I think they deserve more than one little slap," Alice said through clenched teeth.

"No, mother. You still can't punish them. I asked them to do it," Marianne sighed, honestly.


	3. Into the Rabbit Hole

**Part three, and then I am done for the night. Please review?**

Sky blue eyes widened in shock and the hand rose to smack some obedience into Payton and Dinah fell limp. The two younger girls were silent, occasionally glancing at one another in surprise. They hadn't expected for their big sister to admit to being responsible for their tricks. Marianne's face was the only one that showed no emotion whatsoever.

"Why?" Their mother uttered, still looking as if someone had suddenly punched her in the gut. She gentle fell back into her chair with a small push but her eldest daughter.

"I have no intention of creating a heir for I, being the oldest, am the heir. Male or female; it doesn't really matter, does it? I am ten times more capable of running Father's company than some snot-nosed spawn of Grant." Marianne announced in her clearest voice.

Alice's skin turned the exact same shade as Payton's. She turned back toward the small glass table. Using both of her trembling hands, she picked up her teacup and poured the scolding hot liquid down her throat. Anxious, Dinah crawled forward and called, "Mama?"

"Leave. Now. Go outside and play. I'll need some time alone. Then I'll be talking to your father." Alice informed them. Her three daughters didn't know if this was to be celebrated or dreaded, so they merely left as they had been told to.

…

"Marianne, why did you admit that you asked us to prank Grant? I though the agreement was that we played tricks on him and took the blame from Mama so you wouldn't leave us." Dinah inquired, tugging her stocking free from a nasty thorn bush as they trudged through the woods of their backyard.

Dinah, always looked at as if she were a child, was allowed to wear gowns that ended at her knees, just so long as she always wear stockings. Petticoat-hating Payton enjoyed long, straight gowns of all shades of grey. Marianne, intent on becoming the next head of the family, stole a pair of pants from one of the male servant.

"Blame does not include physical abuse-" Marianne told the youngest of the three sisters before being interrupted by Payton. "Yes, it does. You took at least two slaps from Mother for us. Why not let us repay the favor?" Payton asked, stopping and blocking the path until she answered.

"Well then, because I'm your big sister. How can I be expected to take care of the household if I can't take care of my own siblings?" Marianne declared with a certain amount of pride. Payton repaid her with a crooked smile and a light snort while Dinah hugged her gratefully.

"It's Thursday, right? That means that today you pick the game, Dinah." Payton said, picking the dirt out from under her nails. Dinah always asked for the same game: Play-Pretend with a Prince Charming. Marianne, although she also knew this repeating request, tried to make a show that she was listening intently.

"Hmmm," Dinah pondered, twirling a lock of hair around her index finger, "I'm done with all the romance and marriage and baby stuff! There won't ever be a Prince Charming or big, beautiful castle for me. So, I want an adventure with monsters and villains and fighting. That is a much more reasonable wish, don't you think?"

Both of her elder looked up suddenly. Payton grinned in excitement. "I'll go break off some branches so we can use them as swords. We'll each mark our own tree. The tree is our fort. We'll decide what we want guarding our forts later on. Game objective: control all 3 forts," she cheered.

"Wait, Dinah," Marianne said as Payton quickly left for her task, "we need to talk." It worried her greatly to know that her younger sister no longer believed in true love. Usually her philosophy was, "Love conquers all." Now she was, "I'm gonna take up fighting cause fighting happens more often than love.

"Ahhh… Come on, Marianne. Can't we talk about this later? As soon as the sun starts setting Mama will call us back in and we won't get to play." Dinah whined lightly before the middle girl returned. "Guys, come look at this," Payton ushered the over.

Marianne, after agreeing to talk about it with Dinah later, went to investigate. "What is it?" She heard the smallest female ask. "It's a really big hole, Sherlock. I can fist my whole leg inside it!" Payton laughed kneeling by the hole.

"Payton… Don't! What if it is some poor animal's den? You'd be destroying its home!" The compassionate youngest sibling cried out. Her older sister snorted and opened her mouth to say something witty. However, her expression soon went blank and she let out a loud cry as she slipped a bit deeper in to the hole.

"Something's got me!" Payton screamed in surprise, "Get me out! Get me out!" Marianne and Dinah each took one of her arms and began to pull, but couldn't manage to loosen her.

"Is your foot stuck under a tree root or something? You won't budge! Whoa!" One of them complained before a tug from what was pulling on Payton's foot sent her waist deep.

"Don't let go! Promise that you won't let go." Payton demanded, terrorized. Both of her sisters nodded before all three were sucked up into the Rabbit Hole.


	4. Sensible Marianne

The three girls clung to one another the best that they could as they plummeted down through the dirt tunnel. It certainly wasn't what one could expect of a rabbit hole. Instead of being small and winding, Wonderland's portal was very spacious and straight. Which made it all the more terrifying. Unlike their dear mother, Payton, Dinah, and Marianne were in no way dressed for floating carelessly downwards.

Marianne fell fastest, with no skirts to catch the wind. Payton was close above her, on account for her long, straight skirt. Dinah was the best prepared, but clung to Payton so tightly that it was no wonder she fell at the same rate.

Only glimpses of the fireplaces, bookcases, rocking chairs, and grandfather clocks were noticed. By the most sensible of them only, though. Dinah and Payton were too busy staring at the dim light glowing at the end of the tunnel with horror written all over their expressions.

"Are you two going to keep gaping at your feet like idiots or are you going to follow my orders?" Marianne snapped impatiently. Time was of the essence. Like the obedient children they had never been before, her younger sisters nodded. She continued, "Now…

"Here is what we are going to do. We need to stick together at all costs. There is no way to tell what lies waiting for us in this… This… This Underground. Dinah, take off a layer of your petticoat and have Payton hand it down to me using her feet. Don't let it slip away!" After being handed the lace, Marianne tied it another her waist. It decreased her speed slightly so her head was about the height of Dinah's waist.

"Come," she said calmly, pulling them down a little further so the three were reunited, "hold on tight and don't let go no matter what, understand?" With timid nods, the trio fell into the bright light at the end of the tunnel.

…

It took a while for Marianne to work up the strength to move after awaking. Blinking slowly to clear away the blurry vision, the brunette young woman twitched. The rush of pain didn't feel as if it had come from a harsh landing. In fact, it almost seemed as if her entire body had froze up and was just now being released from its tension.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Squawdlysooch venom has some pretty nasty side effects," an ignorant, masculine voice came from her right. As quickly as her sore muscles would allow her, Marianne turned in its direction. There stood a short and stout stork-like bird. _Wait… Not a stork. A dodo_. She thought, shaking her head to clear it of the fog.

"Wh-who said that?" The intelligent female asked with confidence. It surely wasn't possible that this oversized bird had spoken. However, it proved her wrong. "Are you _blind_?" The Dodo squawked scornfully, eyeing her behind its round spectacle and pointing her gently in the side with his cane.

It earned him a sharp yelp and death stare from Marianne. An animal just talked to her! _Well, it can't be a regular dodo, then…_ The injured girl wondered with her suspicions. "Are you a demon-bird sent by the Devil to make a deal for my soul?" She questioned him, eyebrows raised.

For a few moments, he merely watched her with his beady eyes. "You landed on your head, didn't you, my dear child? That, or your mother was drinking three cups of wine a day while she had you resting in her tummy," the Dodo stated mournfully. Marianne immediately flushed with embarrassment and offense.

"Don't you _dare_ talk about my mother that way!" She hissed in a most unladylike manner, rising to her feet in order to better confront him. "You have never met her in your life, so how do you know what she is like?" Marianne's fingers itched to wrench away that bloody cane from his hand and beat him with it.

As if he read her mind, the "demon-bird" tightened his hold on the redwood stick. After scanning her head to toe once or twice, he spoke again in a less accusing tone of voice. "Alice. That is your mother's name, isn't it?" The furious young woman raised one brow and asked, "How do you know that?" In response, the Dodo answered, "You inherited that glare of irate from her. Even she had her limits in this Wonderland that she concocted…"

"Wonderland?" Marianne spoke with patience, carefully examining her surroundings. Late at night, when her sisters were fast asleep and she crept around the house, her parents spoke of a Wonderland. The topic was most often brought up after her father had drunk a bit too much or they had an argument. The conversation usually ended with her mother crying and her father regretful.

Suddenly, the eldest of three sisters realized something that was missing from the scene. "Where are Dinah and Payton?" She demanded, anger replacing confusion once again. The Dodo shrugged. "You got caught on the spines of a Squawdlysooch and were carried away from the other two visitors, if those are the people you are yelling about," he replied.

"Why didn't you help me?" Marianne asked, her brows furrowed in shock. "I don't want to tangle with a Squawdlysooch. Didn't I tell you how unpleasant the poison on their spines is?" Dodo told her, his bad attitude apparent. Marianne ran off quickly in the direction of the drag marks in the dirt without so much as a good-bye to the self-centered Dodo.


	5. Daring Dinah

**It's boring having the girls all together. I refer to the sisters as "the three of them" far too often I've realized. So, in order to make things more interesting for you as a reader, I'll separate them. Does anyone have a favorite so far? Probably not since we haven't met any Wonderland characters other than the Dodo. If you do, though, review telling me which character is your favorite.**

A loud grumbling or growling sound was recurring close to her torso was the thing that awoke the sleeping Dinah. She froze in place in response to the threat, only to relax seconds later when she found out that it was merely her stomach aching for nourishment. _How silly of me! Wanting food when I don't even know where I am._ Dinah thought, pushing herself up on her elbows.

A foot or two away, Payton lay with her hands peacefully folded under her head like an angel. However, the effect made her resemble a corpse. "A very friendly corpse, though," the teenage girl thought aloud quietly. She snuck up on her unconscious sister and cuddled up into her side. The gothic version of Sleeping Beauty shifted a bit but didn't altogether reject Dinah's presence.

Marianne wasn't in the little room that they had landed in, but that was probably just because she had left in search of a bathroom or someone that could help them get back aboveground. "I wonder what kind of people live here, and if they do know how to get back up," she whispered curiously to herself. No one from England knew of a hole that held to a completely different world as far as she could tell. Unless…

"Payton! Payton, wake up! I think we might have fallen straight through the world." Dinah cried out in excitement, shaking her older sister vigorously. However, instead of waking from her deep slumber, she lanked herself away from the grabby hands, instead preferring to turn over and mumbling a few words of nonsense.

"You're being so lazy," the younger girl complained before glancing towards the door half concealed by a curtain, "So I suppose there is no harm in doing a tiny bit of exploring. I'll be back before you awaken. Pinky promise." With that vow, Dinah was on her away.

There wasn't much to see in the room they had arrived in. However, behind each of the four drapes there was a door to be found. One door, behind a royal violet curtain, smelled of pine and was stained a bright yellowish hue. It was full of knots that always seemed to gather in pairs, like eyes. Like bemused yellow eyes half-watching Dinah as she investigated them.

The entrance to the left of it was hidden by a sapphire blue veil and made of a wood that couldn't be distinguish on account of all the writing cramped together across the smooth, almost oily, surface. Either the substance coated the door had smudged the letters or the language was different because Dinah couldn't read more than a sentence of it. "Knowledge is power," spoke the only part of the writing she could understand.

To the right was a white-painted slab of wood with long, crimson red fabrics framing it like a Broadway stage. Its artist put a bright red heart in the middle. They used too much paint on it because there was a drop of red trailing down from it. Dinah got a bad vibe from it, though, and quickly moved on to the last option.

The door directly across from the first was not as fancy as the rest. It was composed of oak, but had a glossy (although not oily) stain. A drape of the same shade as walls hid it, like the door was merely meant to blend into the background. There was red, purple, and blue police tape across it. Still, the writing on the tape was illegible.

After one more examination of the door, Dinah grasped its brass knob and gave it a firm twist without so much as a second thought. Unfortunately, it proved to be locked. Avoiding the door with the heart at all costs, she tried the other two doors. However, they had the same status as the first one she tried to open.

"What use is a door that no one can go through?" The young lady sighed in frustration before looking to the last passageway. If it was unlocked, it was bound to be the one Marianne disappeared through. If it was also locked, she could simply stay with Payton. Difficulties always had to come before triumphs. With as much caution as possible, Dinah twisted the knob and –after finding it unlocked- opened it.


End file.
